Design by Night

If you are an avid reader and like free things I have the perfect site for you! Check out SwapTree.com.

SwapTree is an online exchange where you can swap books, music and dvds. It is incredibly easy to use and the overall idea is a great one. It is a form of recycling (since green is the new black) and you will find your slightly used possessions a good new home where they are loved (kind of like what Rudolph did with the island of misfit toys).


Basically you load your books and create a want list of your own. The website matchs your items with other peoples wants and vice versa. Basically all you do is pay to ship the book to the new owner. The interface is easy and the website provides a postage labelling system. It is a great way to help the environment, support literacy and screw off at work searching through thousands of free books.

So for the few people out there who actually read my blog postings on DesignbyNight.blogspot.com you will know that one of my first blogs was about bags of Barbies and how I would love to use them to craft. Well thanks to a little James Bond inspiration and a dressy affair at the Creative Alliance in Baltimore my wish came true.

Since the fundraiser was themed after the movie Goldfinger, a friend and I came up with our own little homage to Jill Masterson, the unforgettable Bond girl who was covered in gold. Call me sick, but it was fun to watch Jill chop saw the legs and we giggled a great deal during the entire creative process. Slightly perverted and way over the top crafts can be a blast to make. So I thought I would share some of this cheeky sophistication with you.


Me and Jill Popowich at the Creative Alliances Marquee Ball

Recently real-life pirates have been extremely nasty and causing a lot of bad PR, much to my chagrin. I generally love the swash buckling, rum swilling, wenching fictional buccaneers that come to mind when someone mentions the word “pirate.” So to help re-warp my mind into thinking that pirates are a fun group of guys to hang around, I decided to craft my own tricorne pirate hat. Of course mine will have a little flair—well okay, a lot of flair—with large lace, flashy trim and lots of feathers (I’m part raccoon and love glitzy, feathery and fury).

If you wonder why the rum is gone and think a pirate’s life is for you feel free to follow these steps to turn a round, black felt hat in to a swashbuckling fashion accessory.

What you will need:
Black round rim hat, rim should be at least 4” wide or a Felt hat blank
Metal straight pins
Black embroidery thread and needle
Embellishments to taste, I used venice lace and ribbon (you will have to measure the brim edge or other areas of your hat to g…

Setting the table for a nice dinner? Well take that place mat, turn it into a purse and go out to dinner instead! Place mat purses are quick and simple sewing projects, plus they make great conversations pieces. Follow these simple steps and repurpose that place mat in to a purse.

What you will need:
Place mat (pick one with a little stiffness to the fabric)
Purse Handles
Foot of Grosgrain Ribbon
Sewing Machine
Coordinating Color Thread
Scissors
Straight Pins
Fold right sides of the place mat together and sew up the two side edges (fig. A).Keeping the place mat inside out, flatten the bottom corners. Center the side seams and sew a straight line across the corner about 2” up from the corner tip (fig. B).Cut the grosgrain ribbon in four 3” strips. Pull each strip through the ends of the handles to create tabs.Center each handle on alternate sides of the purse body, pinning the tabs on the wrong side of the fabric. Stitch across the tabs to attached them to the purse. Stitch again to reinforce…

Living in a day and age where scrapbooking has become big business and a page isn’t complete without elaborate embellishments, it is hard to remember a time when a scrapbook was simply a book filled with scraps of paper. Not purchased paper with themes, instead a visual story told with fragments of matchbooks, paper clippings and other free found objects.


Recently I was pleasantly reminded of this when I cleaned my craft room. I came across a box of old family photos and in this box was a scrapbook made by Diane L. (my mother) in 1954. The scrapbook tells a tale of nine year old Diane’s family vacation where they drove from Baltimore to Las Vegas. Not only does it capture a moment in my mother’s life, the collection of menus, matchbooks and free postcards acts as a time capsule in book form. Her scrapbook reminds the viewer that there was a time when every celebrity actually had talent and you could go to the Golden Nugget for a $3.50 prime rib and wash it down with a $.25 Ovaltine.



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I love books! Not only are they great for entertaining you on a rainy Sunday afternoon, they are also great for crafting. Generously used books that have seen better days with tattered covers and brittle mustard colored pages are some of my favorites! As far as genre of books to be used for crafting I would have to say cookbooks or text books from the 60’s and 70’s with illustrations.

Using books as a craft supply can be expensive unless you live Baltimore. Thanks to a local book worm with an active social conscience and a love of literacy, we have The Book Thing of Baltimore with the noble mission of placing unwanted books into the hands that want them.

Do I feel guilty tearing up these books instead of reading them? Sometimes, but I always try to choose books that are falling apart or extremely outdated like a 1970’s cookbook or chemistry text book. Furthermore, for every book I take I make sure to bring at least two books in good condition to replace it. Plus, like a good hunter, I …

This past weekend was my first trip to the New Jersey shore, specifically Cape May. Unlike most sea shore towns, Cape May has chosen to keep it’s lower capacity but immensely more appealing, unique historic beach houses and inns rather than building concrete monstrosities for the masses. Unfortunately, most inventory of the local shops do not share the same aesthetics so I was extremely delighted when my nose led me to a shop on Carpenters Lane called Good Scents.
Good Scents is an adorable store that carries everything your mind and body might need to spur creativity, calm down after a stressful day or naturally help those sinus issues. I found the overall aesthetics of the store (especially the scents) to be extremely inspiring.

Here a are a few photos I took but they just don’t do the place justice, if you would like to visit the store it is at 327 Carpenters Lane, Cape May NJ and they have an online shop for their products at www.sensia.com. I especially recommend the purchase of…